


You Shot My Spring-Loaded Bionic Hand into the Ocean So Now You Have to Kiss Me

by Clocksmith



Category: Crash Bandicoot (Video Games)
Genre: Blackmail, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 07:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25346740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clocksmith/pseuds/Clocksmith
Summary: Never had a scheme of Nina’s shifted so far from the initial plan in such a short amount of time. Many of them couldn’t; when you built a machine to accurate technical specifications, it worked. It functioned precisely as designed. If it didn’t, it was usually nothing more than a minor oversight.The feeling of Coco Bandicoot's tongue in her mouth was so much more than an oversight.
Relationships: Coco Bandicoot/Nina Cortex
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	1. Just One Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen very few pieces of work based on this ship so I have taken it upon myself to write some myself.
> 
> Also, no idea if this appeals to anyone, but I now do writing commissions on fiverr. No idea if it will take off, but I thought I'd throw it out there.
> 
> www.fiverr.com/eerieclocksmith/write-the-thing-if-you-want-the-thing

Nina’s primary issue with living on the Wumpa Archipelago was the distinct lack of personal space. Individual islands were relatively small and contained. As such, you were provided with very little protection from your immediate neighbours. These islands were then surrounded by _other_ islands, each one teeming with an obscene range of societies and wild animals that only managed to further inconvenience her day-to-day life.

On a choice few of those islands, these so-called societies and animals were one and the same.

Not that Nina herself was required to leave her personal haven all that often. She had very few reasons that necessitated exploring the likes of the overgrown jungles or Old Papu’s pathetic excuse for a village. Some islands actually offered true glimpses into modern civilization and, if Nina had to venture out into her proverbial neighbourhood then she would choose to go there. With a whole summer away from Evil Public School, living within her uncle’s laboratory and conducting her own devious experiments provided a very convenient excuse to seldom leave.

Choosing to do something and _needing_ to do something were entirely different circumstances however, and sometimes even Nina Cortex had to venture out and say hello to the riffraff.

Today’s required locale was North Sanity Island.

Rarely did Nina bother with the place, let alone consider _venturing._ It was home to the worst that the Archipelago had to offer; mutated freaks, secluded villages and carnivorous plants. Or, according to some objectively less-reliable sources, relatively peaceful… if you happened to _not_ be a Cortex.

Which made it somewhat infuriating when a Cortex required mineral samples that were exclusive to that particular island. Initial plans had been to send one of her uncle’s lackeys to fetch the mojo clusters, but previous failures necessitated a personal touch.

It was as Nina always said: _if something was worth doing right, it was worth not trusting plebeians to do it for you._

Mojo was not an uncommon resource on the Archipelago; between the feuding sibling masks and their numerous petty squabbles over the centuries, the place practically _reeked_ of it. In the plants, in the animals. Or, rather conveniently for Nina’s experiments, in the form of crystallised clusters at various mojo hotspots around the Wumpa Islands.

Said clusters were more prominent in locations frequented the masks, however. And if she wanted clusters imbued with potent good mojo, that meant getting near the source in question.

Needless to say, Aku Aku did not spend ample amounts of his free time on Cortex Island, or near their laboratory. Prior studies indicated that the southern beach and the surrounding jungle of N. Sanity Island was the prime location for especially potent clusters to appear, but that took her well within enemy territory. Near anti-Cortex villages, near a select few houses.

Secondary research implicated the base of several cliffs by the western beaches of the island. It appeared that Aku Aku had a temple of his own, at one point in the past. Even if the structure had long since crumbled into the sea, his prolonged presence there would have been enough to infect the nearby area.

So, Nina stood at the edge of the shore, staring out into the blue horizon. Salt was thick in the air, permeated only by the whiff of rotted jungle flora and the incessant cawing of wild birds. Despite the overbearing presence of the sun, there was a pleasant breeze whispering against her cheeks.

It whispered: _fuck you, Nina._

She was endlessly relieved that she’d had the foresight to coat every square inch of her open skin in sun cream. She was also endlessly disgusted that she had to endure N. Sanity Island with _every square inch of open skin coated in cream._

The sooner she got those mojo clusters, the sooner she could forget about this stupid island.

Thankfully, the actual search for the clusters took less effort than Nina had originally anticipated. Large clusters were nowhere to be seen, contrary to what her studies had suggested. Two separate cliffs discovered with a limited selection of smaller clusters more than made up for this oversight, however.

Not even two hours in and she had more than enough for her experiments. Power crystals were going to be old news, if Nina had her way; controlled reactions between good and bad mojo had the potential to provide a much more convenient source of energy.

Assuming you didn’t mind harvesting it from common minerals, plants and cute little animals, of course.

Regardless, if she couldn’t create an engine with the ability to catalyst and contain a stable reaction, power crystals would continue to be the preferable option. Progress required experimentation. Experimentation required sacrifice.

In this case, time. And venturing into the headache that was North Sanity Island.

“Nina.”

… Which, of course, was called a headache for good reason.

“Coco.” Nina turned to see a rather repugnant marsupial stood several feet behind her. Her fluffy arms were crossed in defiance, and her little face did its very best to appear threatening. “Finally tired of slumming it in the jungle?”

“What are you doing here?”

Straight to the point. “Samples,” Nina replied, holding up her final cluster with an extra toothy smile. “Surely there’s nothing wrong with that?”

“Of mojo clusters?” Coco asked, incredulous.

“Perfectly innocent.”

“After the last time you and your uncle messed around with mojo?” Coco scoffed. “Yeah, sorry if I don’t buy it.”

“Believe what you want,” Nina stated, strutting past and purposefully knocking her own shoulder against Coco’s. “I’ve got what I came for.”

That should have been the end of it, if Coco knew what was good for her. Nina would leave the beach, board her airship and return to the sanctity, the _sanity_ , of her quarters in the laboratory.

Coco apparently did not know what was good for her. The bandicoot instead caught up with and took a wide step in front of Nina. “Great,” she said, planting her feet firmly in the ground and once again crossed her arms tightly over her chest. “You’ll be handing them over.”

_Fat chance._ Nina couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “You _are_ aware that if you take these, I’m just going to go and get more, right?”

“I’ll take those from you as well, if it stops you messing around with mojo again.”

“What I do with mojo has nothing to do with you or your stupid island.”

“I’m sure you would have said that to me if I’d caught you last time as well.”

“Then I’ll get more.” It would likely require access to the jungle, but if Coco wanted to make a game out of this whole affair, Nina would gladly take her turn at the dice. “Taking this from me literally achieves nothing.”

Coco shrugged. “At least I’ll have wasted your time.”

“You’re _already_ wasting my time.”

“Then give me the clusters and you can leave our island.”

Nina scoffed. “Fine.” She extended her arm up over her head and down to the bag at her back, storing the final cluster inside. _“Take them from me,”_ she finished, zipping the bag closed.

Coco tried. Truly, she did. Charging for Nina, the bandicoot tackled her to the ground and sat all her weight on Nina’s waist. Rather understandably for something so simple as a bandicoot, Coco _clearly_ didn’t seem to consider that by throwing Nina down on her back, she had absolutely no access to the backpack itself.

… Or perhaps Coco knew perfectly well how painful it would be for Nina to land on a backpack containing roughly cut mineral deposits. In which case, _fuck Coco Bandicoot._

Regardless, Nina didn’t give Coco the chance to roll her over: she wrapped her wide, metal hands around Coco’s own waist and extended her wrists straight up. “Oh dear,” Nina lamented, “I think you’ve put on weight.” And hurled the nosey vermin towards the other end of the beach.

Coco hit the ground hard but stuck a landing on her second tumble. There was little pause or fanfare as she began running back towards Nina, something not unlike fire in her eyes.

“Calling me fat? Real original.” She was making ground fast. The bandicoot was agile, Nina would give her that much. For now. “You couldn’t come up with anything better?”

“I’m a scientist; I say it like I see it.”

Launching out a wrist again, Nina let her fist fly through the air. She smiled as it connected with Coco’s stomach and sent out another punch to follow the first. Two simple hits should have done it. Nothing arduous as far as Nina and Coco were concerned, but more than enough to wind her assailant and retreat towards her airship. Even if Coco got up, it would be too late to catch up to Nina, let alone land another attack.

That’s how it should have been. It would have happened exactly as Nina planned, if Coco hadn’t caught the second fist in her arms, embracing the whole thing close to her chest. Her heels skidded back through the sand with the sheer force, coming to a shuddering stop as she tightened her hold.

Even as Nina tried to flex her fingers, she found them clamped shut.

Big metal hands. Useful for grappling to faraway object. Quite handy if it came to an impromptu fight. Embarrassingly easy to grab if your opponent timed it just right. Or got incredibly _lucky._

“Let go of me,” Nina snarled.

_“Make me,”_ Coco replied, tone identical to the one Nina had given her.

Arm stretched out and a fist in Coco’s embrace, Nina merely retracted her arm, forcing Coco to ride along with it. Coco barrelled towards her, but not so fast that Nina couldn’t shift her body enough to avoid the impending impact. She let momentum guide her arm backwards, swinging with the motions to bring it to a steady stop. Like catching a simple ball.

But still the rotten bandicoot _held on._

With one fist held tight by Coco’s entire torso, Nina swung at her with the other, but the awkward spacing only managed to spin Nina around. Rather than take the chance to launch a flurry of kicks or counterattack, Coco held on.

_“Let. Me. Go!”_

Coco only made her hold tighter. “Give me the mojo and I’ll think about it!”

As fun as it was to harass the poor creature, Nina was growing exceedingly _bored_ of actually doing so. A swift punch out before reeling her fist back in would be more than enough to get rid of the gangly orange rat.

But then Coco _twisted._

Just as Nina made to punch with her captured fist one more time, her wrist made a distinct _click._ The spring-loaded mechanisms kicked in, punching just as Nina had originally planned.

Nina’s wrist detached.

Nina’s fist flew high into the air in a wide arc, momentum carrying it to the apex of its course, well over the surface of the water. Then it began to fall.

The still-closed fist vanished completely into the sea, its ultimate fate sealed with an audible _plop._ Within the span of a few seconds, Nina had lost one of her hands. Literal months’ worth of intricate tweaks and ongoing upgrades completely wasted.

Dumped unceremoniously in the ocean.

Nina simply stood there, staring out into the water. As did Coco, quiet and still as the breeze blew gently over her fur.

Eventually, Nina found the energy to turn her burning eyes on Coco. “I hope you know you’re getting that back, Bandicoot,”

Coco took a flabbergasted step back. “ _Me?_ That wasn’t me!”

“I wasn’t the one that started a fight on the beach!”

“What did you _expect_ coming here? Why _are_ you even here?”

“Samples, you _moron_. I’m working on mojo reactions.”

“Excuse me if I don’t trust you with mojo after you completely mutated half the archipelago.”

“I’m researching the magical equivalent of a battery! It’s hardly a _deathbot_ , is it?”

“How was I meant to know you were working on a magical battery?”

“You could use your ears and listen for a change! Then _maybe_ you wouldn’t start a fight where there isn’t one.” Nina raised her empty wrist. “Look at me! Do you have a spare hand laying around? Because I don’t!”

The adrenaline from their fight refocused itself, fuelling the building frustration at the back of Nina’s head. Between the sweat, the sun, the _slime_ coating her skin and the fact that one of her hands was swiftly sinking to the bottom of the ocean, Nina found that she hardly cared about the fight anymore. Or the stupid clusters.

But she did care about getting her own back. “Is this your thing, now? Stealing prosthetics from the disabled?”

“No!” Coco was incredulous, yet her voice stumbled at the accusation. “I-I didn’t mean to! Don’t turn this around one me. You’re making it sound like I–“

“Sound like you threw an amputee’s hand into the ocean? Yeah, I am.”

“That’s not fair. This has _nothing_ to do with you being an amputee!”

“Well, it is now. I’m a hand short, and you’re getting it back for me.”

Coco peered out towards the ocean, roughly in line with where Nina’s fist and vanished into the briny blue. ‘Roughly’ being the operative word. Impact point, the strength of the waves. All of these things could drastically alter the course in which it sank

As fuming as Nina was, she was going to milk that sorry fact for all it was worth.

“How the fudge am I even going to find it?” Coco asked.

“Guess you better start swimming.” Nina crossed her arms, cocking her hip. “It’s fine. I’ll wait.”

What remained was Nina standing in place as Coco glared between both her and the ocean, features flickering rapidly between soft and stern. Maybe she was considering her options; fighting the topic like a good little nemesis or taking the moral high ground and doing as she was told and helping the disabled.

In itself, that conflict amused Nina enough. But…

“Or maybe we could come to an arrangement,” Nina slyly offered. “As a form of recompense.”

Coco’s reply was immediate. “I don’t need to do _anything_ for you.”

“So, you’re going to leave me on the beach with only one hand?” Nina waved her empty wrist in Coco’s face. Frustrated, sure. She was beyond frustrated, but she wasn’t _sad._ This happened in her line of work. But Coco didn’t need to know that. “Some hero you are. Leaving a poor amputee girl without one of her intricately made and personalised prosthetics.” That was true. _Frustratingly_ true. “That’s low, even by my standards.” It wasn’t.

Nina had Coco’s full attention, then. Far from the conflicted look of moral competition from before, it melded into something between a sneer and exasperation.

Or maybe acceptance? Nina would happily take any of the above. In the end, Coco relented. “Okay, fine.” The particularly huffy way that Coco enunciated her words begged to differ. “What do you want?”

Nina thought on the question. She would _never_ get a chance like this again. Crash and his ilk so rarely came to her or her uncle for assistance, let alone for something as naïve as an _apology_. Coco had never approached her on friendly terms at all.

Now she had a request. And knowing Coco Bandicoot, she would follow it to the letter. To the _spirit._

It was the latter that sent the most pleasurable tingle down the back of Nina’s spine. Her arch-nemesis was ready and waiting to do her a favour. Or complete a _demand._ Blackmail was such a beautiful thing. Perhaps Nina could use this chance to get something more permanent. Something–

“Oh.” It struck, square in the centre of her brilliantly magnanimous forehead. “Oh, I know exactly what I want.”

It was perfect. Beyond perfect.

“I want a kiss,” Nina said, simply. Innocently, even.

At first, Coco offered no true reaction. As if it was simply taking her mind that long to process the selection of sounds and syllables that had left Nina’s mouth and she required every ounce of brainpower to even begin interpreting the meaning behind them.

But Coco Bandicoot wasn’t that dense, so talk she eventually did. “What?”

“I want you,” Nina stated, ever so slowly, pointing to Coco with her empty wrist, “to kiss me.” Then tapping it proudly to her chest. “That’s a fair trade for throwing a poor amputee’s prosthetic into the sea, wouldn’t you say?”

Whilst Nina had certainly expected resistance, the grimace squirming onto Coco’s face was almost unnatural it how it settled there. Behind orange fur and bright touches of scattered makeup, it resembled nothing short of a struggling kitten tied up in a pretty canvas bag.

Nina found that she quite liked it.

Coco spoke next through gritted teeth. “I didn’t _throw_ it into the sea.”

“Same difference. And while I applaud your attempt to avert the blame, my request remains the same.” Nina smiled, her bucked teeth becoming especially prominent. “A kiss.”

Nina was aware of her appearance and its standing within the hierarchy of aesthetics in the modern world. She knew her forehead was abnormally large for the average human. She was aware her teeth were crooked and very-much not completely in her mouth at all times. She was aware they were yellowed. She was aware the same could be said of her eyes, depending on the time of day. She was aware that her skin had more in common with a day-old corpse than any living creature. She was aware her chest would hardly get a single letter on the measurement scale and the same could be said about much of her body.

She was even more so aware that she had destructive metal gauntlets for hands.

She had known all these things for years. Especially since her enrolment into Evil Public School, encouraged as they all were to be as cruel as they could be to each other.

Nina Cortex was aware of all of this. And she would gladly use those facts against Coco Bandicoot.

“I-It might be worthwhile at least trying to look for your hand.”

“By all means. And after you spend hours combing the ocean floor and don’t actually find it, you can come back to me and we’ll get on with my kiss.”

Coco Bandicoot who wore _makeup._ Coco Bandicoot who likely spent longer on her hair and eyelashes alone than Nina spent on her entire beauty routine. Coco Bandicoot who had _blush_ and _accessories_ and a laptop with _pretty_ stickers.

Coco Bandicoot who would find it most humiliating if she knew that there happened to be a photograph of her kissing Nina Cortex.

A photo that her arch-nemesis could send anywhere at any time. Just because she could.

Coco’s face confirmed all of this and more. “Just… one kiss?” she asked, hesitant. “That’s all you really want?”

“Of course.”

Only one was required. Not even one, if it came to it.

Nina would add this photo to the one of Crash kissing Aku Aku. She might even start a collection; imagine, all the Wumpa Islands under her thumb because she managed to make everyone kiss each other.

…

… No, that was a stupid idea. She would need to get creative after this. Twice was a coincidence, but thrice implied a pattern. And patterns meant you were no longer ahead of the curve.

“I take your silence to mean that I’m getting lucky?”

When nothing close to a ‘no’ was returned, Nina congratulated herself on a soon-to-be well-earned piece of quality blackmail.

A tired sigh from Coco preceded the final confirmation. “Fine. One kiss. Then we’re even.”

As Coco approached, Nina prepared to savour the moment. Not that she’d really need to; the picture would do that for her.

Between Nina’s thick-soled shoes and Coco’s natural height (or as natural as a genetically modified marsupial could truly be considered natural), the two managed to stand nose to nose. Nina built an extra toothy smile, just for the occasion.

And deftly, she readied her remaining hand to pull her phone from the side-pocket of her backpack.

“Ready?” Nina asked.

Coco merely took a deep breath. With silence once more being her only answer, Nina smugly added, “Whenever you’re ready, Co–“

Nina Cortex was not ready.

Coco took Nina’s chin in her dainty fingers and pulled her in. Their lips met and what Nina had expected to be nothing more than a chaste, _humiliated_ peck against her lips steadily evolved into something she couldn’t quite find the appropriate amount of braincells to describe.

Soft fur gently brushing against the sensitive skin of her lips. The light push of Coco’s breath against her skin and the faint touch of a tongue in places Nina had never encountered another tongue before.

Seconds ticked by and for all the pride she held in her brain and intelligence, Nina lost track of the universe. She lost track of physics and mathematics and cause and effect. She lost track of _fact._ The only thing she knew for certain was that, in this moment, Coco Bandicoot’s tongue was making contact with her own.

Then it ended.

Nina didn’t really know when she’d closed her eyes, but she could only assume that it had occurred at some point prior to her opening them. Coco looked back at her when she eventually did, that same awkwardness clinging on her face that had been there before the kiss began.

“T-There. One kiss,” Coco declared. “Now we’re even.”

Nina swallowed in the absence of anything to say in response, intrusively aware of the fact that the contents of her mouth had not been entirely her own.

“Right?” Coco asked, firmly.

Only the smallest part of Nina’s brain even registered that a question had been asked.

“Nina?”

At this point she barely recognised her own name. “Y-Yeah. We’re… even.”

But looking up at Coco, Nina felt that numbing of her universe grow. Both girls just stood there, either unwilling or unable to leave. Nina’s hand was gone, her body logically lighter, but this heaviness compelled her to just… stop. This new thing she had yet to analyse and break down into something she could quantify.

“That was… weird,” Nina eventually added. She had to. “That’s was so _weird_. W-Why was your _tongue_ in my mouth?!”

“You _asked_ for a kiss,” Coco quickly replied, her tone defensive.

“I _meant_ a peck.” Or a fake-out, or a headbutt or _something._ “Why didn’t you just cheat and kiss me on the cheek?!”

“Because you _asked_ for a kiss! I thought it had to be a proper kiss!”

“Why would I ask for our tongue in my mouth?!”

“Because I threw your hand into the ocean!”

Never had a scheme of Nina’s shifted so far from the initial plan in such a short amount of time. Many of them couldn’t; when you built a machine to accurate technical specifications, it worked. It functioned as designed. If it didn’t, it was usually nothing more than a minor oversight.

This was so much more than an oversight.

“Why did you even ask for kiss if you didn’t want one?” Coco hissed.

Nina had thought it would be amusing. “I was going to take an embarrassing photo of you kissing me!”

Coco’s face twisted. “Wha– I was trying to be _nice!_ ”

“I don’t _do_ nice!” Why was this even happening? How could Nina have misjudged the situation so poorly? “I’ve tried to crush you with a giant robot on _multiple_ occasions. Why would you try and do nice?!”

“Hand. In. The. _Ocean._ ” Coco’s hands scratched through her hair, weakening the tightness in her ponytail. “Who wouldn’t feel bad about that?”

“ _Me!_ I wouldn’t feel bad! I’m not an invalid!”

“Then what was all that about? Why were you playing the pity card?!”

“Because I was trying to blackmail you into kissing me!”

It was less of a scream, but the moan of pure frustration that crawled out of Coco’s mouth was not something that seemed natural to her body. Nina would have taken a frustrated groan. She would have taken anything, if it meant she could move again.

Yet, there Nina was. Standing there, like a complete loser.

Coco, it seemed, was done standing there. “You know what? I’m not dealing with this,” she stated. “This did _not_ happen. I _didn’t_ – why didn’t you try to… ugh!”

She pulled out the scrunchy holding her ponytail together. The rough, tangled mess she proceeded to scratch her hair into felt like an accurate metaphor for Nina’s life.

“I’m going home,” Coco simply said, abruptly tired. “Keep your stupid mojo clusters. This never happened.” Good as her word, she marched away from Nina and towards the edge of the jungle. “This _never_ happened.”

There might have been something else after that. Some words from Coco about ‘home’, ‘Nina’ and ‘being done’. Information that was vaguely unimportant to Nina. Information she wouldn’t need. With only the beach to comfort her, time drifted back. Eventually. The smell of the salt in the air, the newfound shade brought by roaming clouds. The rush of the wind against Nina’s ears.

It said: _fuck you, Nina._

The universe was moving again. But when Nina registered that universe, she was the only one stood on the beach, a faint tingle on her lips the only thing that suggested someone else had ever been there at all.


	2. It Was Just One Kiss

It was only later in the darkness of her bedroom, laying on her bed and eyes focused entirely on the ceiling that Nina began to analyse the scant pieces of data her brain had actually managed to gather during her encounter with Coco. It was a hazy mess of physical sensations: light pressure on her chin; fur tickling the space just beneath her nose; moistness; heated breath. A tongue.

_Coco Bandicoot’s tongue._

And a heavy churning in her gut that she couldn’t decipher. Nina wasn’t an idiot, however. She knew the likely causes: fear for this new thing she had just experienced; insecurity with something she had simply considered not part of her world; bewilderment at Coco’s willingness.

Or even attraction to all of those things. Because…

No one had ever kissed Nina before.

Her days at the Academy of Evil had been spent in rigorous study and high praise. She’d been the star pupil, the envy of all her evil peers. Hated and loved by all the right people. But she’d never thought to _get_ with those people.

She simply hadn’t been interested in… _feelings._

Evil Public School was when those urges and new desires began to infect her brain. They came so slowly that she could practically _see_ them crawling their way into her subconscious. All these _wants_ for things that she’d never wanted before. Quirks of biology compelling her to breed and procreate and _feel_ and every other evolutionary shortcoming of humanity in-between.

That was all very well and good for the growing process of her brain, but why would she want to take advantage of any of that when her choices were students at _Evil Public School_? Brain-dead idiots and bimbos who could just about connect a set of slurs together and still think that would be enough to get a passing grade in any evil class they wanted.

Nina had never felt anything, not for any of them. Not even in passing, or when she closed her eyes. The chemical reactions occurring in her brain just… stalled. Waiting for something worthwhile to actually make an appearance.

Now something apparently had, and Nina Cortex didn’t know what to do with that information.

“Shit.”

On the one hand… it was Coco Bandicoot. Coco Bandicoot, the evolved mutant that would still be scrounging on the overgrown floor of the jungle if it wasn’t for her uncle and Brio. Coco Bandicoot, a girl that had gotten in Nina’s way more times that she cared to think about. Coco Bandicoot, sister of the wretched furball that constantly destroyed her machines and stuck his rotten nose where it didn’t belong.

On the other hand – one that was now likely settled at the bottom of the ocean – it was Coco Bandicoot… the mutant who had kissed her. Coco Bandicoot, one of the few mechanics in Nina’s immediate circle that could keep with her on an intellectual level. Coco Bandicoot… who had surprisingly gentle hands. Soft fur.

Softer lips–

“Shit!”

Nina launched her clenched fist out from her wrist, violently crushing the steel against the furthest wall of her bedroom. She watched as the dust settled, shattered chips of painted concrete crumbling to the floor. She brought it back and sent out a second hit as she roared, punching the same spot once more.

Then again for good measure.

The tired voice of her uncle Neo travelled up the stairs. “That better be angry collateral damage and not petty collateral damage!”

“Does it _sound_ like petty collateral damage?!”

“I’m just making sure that you’re growing up into the traditionally evil woman I forcefully raised you to be and not a clichéd high school drop-out with temper issues!”

Shut. Up.

“Shut up!”

“That’s my girl!”

_Shut up!_

He did, and Nina felt her chest calm. Her breaths became slower and the red in her vision cooled until she was back in the relative dark of her room. Her room that now had a sizable chunk of concrete wretched from the wall.

A chunk that did little to solve any of her current problems.

Coco Bandicoot.

Coco.

_Bandicoot._

The fact that this infatuation involved a girl was… not entirely surprising. Nina had never truly questioned what she found attractive. She had never found _anyone_ to be attractive. The fact that there now _was_ a someone that her body had an interest in was more intrusive a thought process than the gender of the subject in question.

This girl had kissed her. Under the guise of blackmail in an effort to acquire further blackmail, admittedly. But… the kiss had still occurred. It had occurred in a fashion much _more_ than Nina could have ever anticipated.

Coco had put so much more into that kiss, into those few seconds than Nina had put into any sort of romantic thought throughout her entire life. Even if it was just a bodily desire, or an errant chemical reaction swirling throughout her brain, Nina had reacted to it. She had _experienced_ it.

And… she wanted to do it again.

Not just kiss. She didn’t just want to _kiss._

She wanted to kiss _Coco._ She wanted Coco to kiss _her._

She _wanted._

Nina wanted things that she couldn’t put into coherent or familiar thought.

Is this what it was like? Is this what a crush was? Not just wanting to experience a physical sensation, but wanting to experience that physical sensation with a certain individual?

With… Coco Bandicoot?

The thought was so alien. Alien wasn’t alien enough a word to accurately describe how alien a thought this was inside her head. She _hated_ Coco Bandicoot. Coco Bandicoot hated _her._

_…_

Nina swallowed. That final thought, if only just for a moment, brought an uncomfortable lump to the surface of her throat that she didn’t know she could have.

_Coco Bandicoot hated her._

And Nina Cortex… hated Coco Bandicoot? Right?

The urge to punch the wall again was there, her arm already tensed for another pot-shot at the concrete that someone was else going to have to pay for. That same urge was drowned out by new urges, both vague and strong that clouded her otherwise perfect headspace.

Well, maybe not so perfect anymore.

These new urges argued against older ones. New signals were collecting together at the back of her head and forming into new ideas and… possibilities. New feelings that Nina wasn’t sure she’d ever felt before.

It made her ask _questions_ that she hadn’t asked before.

_Would Coco kiss me again?_

_Would she let me kiss her?_

_Could we spend time together as something less than enemies?_

_… Are we capable of spending time together at all?_

Nina doubted. If not in general, then after the incident earlier.

Friends could repair a relationship from something like that, she supposed. Nina didn’t have enough experience with _friends_ to be sure on that, but friends were all about forgiveness, right? Crunch had tried to kill Crash and Coco plenty of times, and they still liked him. He even _lived_ in their house, according to Dingodile.

Could she become like that with Coco? Could Nina visit their house? Could–

The urge to punch the wall sparked up once more and this time, Nina gladly gave into it. Her balled first pummelled the stone as she stood up from her bed, forcing more and more pressure behind each subsequent strike. Again. And again.

Again.

“I.” Again. “Didn’t.”

 _Again._ “Ask for this!”

Her first broke clean through. What had once been a wall with mere gashes borne from her temper was now something you wouldn’t call a wall unless you were trying sponge money from an insurance company.

Her uncle would likely do so in order to pay for the repairs.

An entire hole in the wall _still_ didn’t solve her problem, however. If anything, it just gave her something else to deal with that could have been easily avoided if Coco Bandicoot hadn’t _stuck her tongue down Nina’s throat!_

… Perhaps not quite her throat. If she had, maybe these new feelings would at least be somewhat warranted. Instead, Nina was smitten by a single kiss. Not even a raunchy one.

It was more than a little pathetic.

Even her experiments felt irrelevant, now. She wouldn’t be able to concentrate. She would lose focus. She _already­_ had no focus! All that effort, all that fighting on the beach and all those things that didn’t need to happen and, for what? Crystalline clusters of mojo that sat in the corner of her room, not even remotely prepped for the experiments they were collected for.

Her world had stopped.

She needed to see it moving again. She needed _progress._ Progress required experimentation. Experimentation required sacrifice.

Only now, Nina wasn’t sure what that sacrifice was going to be.


	3. Just One More Kiss

A new day.

Same thoughts, swirling through Nina’s head like a poison smog. She was so sure that she was ready to vomit up what little breakfast she had been able to stomach. Then again, that was apparently not unusual when approaching the house of someone you wanted to kiss.

Contrary to some sources, both she and her uncle knew exactly where the Bandicoots lived. It would be hard not to; the island was small, and they shared the same internet provider. Even Crash, as barely there as he was, knew where Nina lived. He had been to her uncle’s primary lab at one point, after all. But taking the fight to the other’s home turf outside of a major scheme only provided needless conflict and both sides could do without that.

Nina needed time to improve her machines, and ample time to pass so that Crash and his bumbling menagerie could grow complacent in their victory.

Or maybe everyone was just as tired as Nina felt in that moment, content to have that one place they could go to when the world took a massive dump on their ideals and left them out in the sun to dry.

Nina certainly felt like shit.

Once again trailing her feet through a sandy beach of N. Sanity Island did not do anything to improve on that mood. The sun granted a mercy of sorts on her, hiding itself behind gathering grey clouds. But in doing so, it felt like even the burning celestial body was embarrassed to look at her. Ready to cringe at her attempt to be social as the clouds roared and laughed. She would have been better sending someone to simply kidnap Coco instead. Or so Nina told herself. The current situation necessitated a more _political_ approach, as it were. Nina was unsure of how the day would end, but ultimate success required a few choice sacrifices on her part. Whatever that success actually turned out to be.

She wasn’t entirely sure what she even _wanted_ that success to be.

Regardless, Nina now stood quietly at the edge of a flat patch of land that opened into the jungle. At the farthest end sat a small building. Unimportant and quaint, trying its very best not to infringe on the rest of the jungle around it. Some might have called it a cottage, but Nina thought it far too small. It was a hut, inelegantly built and with a vegetable patch off to one side.

Somewhere behind the trees Nina knew there to be a garage of sorts, one where Coco and Crunch spent their free time. Something that had actual _space._ Somewhere you could likely breathe without another bandicoot’s fur getting caught in your nostrils. But that wasn’t where Nina was, and all she was left with was this dwelling that she would be hard-pressed to ever call a dwelling at all.

It was a dingy thing, and one Nina could not even begin to imagine living in. Her bedroom alone was likely bigger than the entire surface area of every room in the hut combined.

No space. No privacy.

Did they even _have_ separate rooms?

There was no point in asking. If she played nice, she would likely see the inside of it soon enough. Pulling in all the air her lungs could manage, Nina heaved a tired sigh, popping the joints in her neck as she did so. The sickly gurgling in her stomach intensified and, for a moment she considered simply walking away from all of this.

She could just wander back home and force her brain through this illogical attraction.

But that would be akin to failure, and Nina Cortex didn’t tolerate failure.

Stepping fully into the opening for the first time, her heavy steps against the damp grass felt horrendously intrusive. There was no crunching or snapping of twigs. Just an affirmation that she was indeed where she was and that already felt like too much.

Even worse was when her soles scraped lightly against the drier patches of loose dirt. Every motion felt like an alarm, and not one she was privy to silencing.

Somehow, the mere idea that they would notice her before she reached the door left her joints stiff and reluctant. As if all her previous experience with the furballs meant nothing and now they had some debilitating power to hold over her. Which, in truth, was utterly ridiculous. Nothing had changed with them.

Only Nina had changed. There was nothing they could do now that they couldn’t do to her before.

…

… Nina moved forward, a single steel hand hanging at her side. For the first time in years, it felt heavy against her wrist.

Up the path, the noise beneath her seemed to grow as the sounds of the beach and nearby jungle fell silent. The sounds of birds and wild animals flickered and died, like a far-off fire drowned out by the sounds of rain. Only her presence remained as the universe once again seemed to vanish from existence. Nothing outside her bubble remained.

It was only Nina, and the house.

One more deep breathe, and she knocked. Another social custom that would benefit her current predicament. The banging was loud, and the door rattled in its frame. Three times she hit the wood, pausing before a fourth; she wasn’t entirely sure the wood would be able to handle a final beating from the sheer weight of her fist.

Her pause was well chosen. Before she had the chance to try again, it opened.

Coco was not the one that answered the door.

“We get it, you’re outside. You trying to break the door–” he began, his eyes falling squarely on Nina. His tone dropped drastically. “… down.”

Crunch Bandicoot.

Compared to the slender frame of Coco, or even the dumpling of a torso that was Crash Bandicoot, Crunch was something more beastly. A mutant built from the ground up on steroids and enough muscle mass to bring a house down.

Or his own house a dozen times over, if he tried.

He towered over Nina, likely by well over three or four whole feet. And from this position, right beneath his nose with his eyes glaring down on her, she imagined he would be an inconvenient foe to meet on the battlefield. Not to mention that his cybernetics could likely dish out a metric fuck-ton of damage to her own hands if he were to get a hold of them.

“Nina.”

How eloquent. “Crunch. Always a pleasure.”

“Uh… yeah,” he replied, slowly. “Sure.”

When the mass of fluff and muscle did not continue what Nina had hoped would be a fairly straightforward conversation, she decided it was time to get this whole ordeal over with.

“I…”

Or, she tried. Words caught in her throat and it took several seconds longer than it should have for her to clear it. But she had to, because she finally had an inkling of an idea of what she would need to sacrifice to run this experiment.

Pride.

“I would… _like_ , to see Coco.”

Crunch merely stared back with a distinctly unimpressed look on his face.

Oh, right. “Please,” she added.

His response was quick. “No.” And incredulous.

… What?

_Excuse me?_

Nina had said please. _Please._ She had followed _their_ rules. She had gone out of her way to be cordial. How dare the mutant fuzzball deny her.

“What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“I mean, no. As in, your request to see Coco has been denied.”

“I said ‘ _please’_.”

“You’re new to the whole ‘please and thank you’ thing, aren’t you?”

“Well, _duh._ I’m only doing it so that you’ll let me in.”

“And that’s exactly why I’m _not_ letting you in.”

That pressure was building at the back of her head again. The one that said right now would be a very convenient time to break something. Or someone, if available. The steel gauntlet at her side clenched tight… but she ignored it.

She pushed that feeling down.

On review of her previous statement, she identified a potential flaw.

“I’m not making myself clear,” she said, in what she hoped was an earnest tone. “I meant I am trying to make an… _effort._ And would like to speak with Coco.” Was… was a full name required in polite conversation? “Bandicoot.” Please. “Please.”

His eyes searched her. For what, she didn’t exactly know. Understanding? Sincerity?

Likely sincerity.

Sincerity was not something Nina had extensive experience with. Insincerity? That she could work with. She could wrap someone around her relatively little finger with just the right set of words. said at just the right time of day. Usually, right after a heavy lunch, especially when her uncle was concerned. Crash too, in all likelihood.

Now that she considered it, Crunch likely knew this of her, too.

“Look. Can I be honest? I don’t know what you did,” he finally admitted, ignoring her previous request entirely. “But I know you did _something_ to Coco yesterday. She’s not been right since she saw you sneaking around on the beach. And I don’t like it when people hurt my little sister.”

Nina probably shouldn’t have responded. But she did. “She’s older than you, dipshit.”

He faltered. “Well, I’m older than you.”

 _No, he wasn’t_. “I’m _seventeen_ ,” Nina growled. Even if you considered the day he was physically born, and not the day he was rendered evolved and intelligent, she still had him beat by years.

It apparently meant little to him, either way. Crunch crossed his arms, leaning casually against the frame of the door, defying the firm looking pulled over his face. “In that case, maybe you should start acting like it.”

“Don’t talk _down_ to me, furball. I’m still older than you!”

“Then why do I feel like I’m talking to a bratty little kid?”

Her fist had already been clenched, but not it was _itching_. Metaphorically. It would be so easy to just go with the motions and strike him square in the chest. Or even better, swing her fist up in a royal uppercut. That would cut him down to size.

It would be so easy.

It would be _so satisfying._

But… she reluctantly conceded that doing so would not get her anywhere. It would be detrimental to her current plan, and even more so to her state of mind.

These strange things inside her head… she wanted to at least have the option of experiencing more them, before it was taken away. She honestly wasn’t sure how she would take that. Knowing her track record, not gracefully.

And that scared her.

Once again, Nina pulled in a deep breath. It did little to calm her nerves, only buying her a precious few seconds to think her next words through.

She shakily exhaled. “I’m not trying to sound _bratty_. Or insincere, or whatever.” So far, so average. “I… I don’t know how to do this, okay? I don’t know what you want me to say. Or do. Or if there’s some weird rule I’m not following. I just want to speak with Coco.” No, that wasn’t right, was it? “Please. I need to speak with Coco.”

It wasn’t just a ‘want’ anymore. It was something bigger. Yet at the same time, more fragile. Whether Crunch could see that or not, Nina didn’t know.

When he next spoke, the firmness in his gaze had given way to something softer. Not kind, or pleased. But something less than annoyed. “Wait here,” he said, closing the door.

Nina did, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, victory wasn’t a definite in her mind.

Even when she had failed in the past, that had not been her outlook from the onset; every undertaking was intended to succeed. Everything she did, from simply building a new machine to enacting a grand plan upon the world at large, was designed to be successful. It was seen as successful, right until the final moment where it was decidedly not.

Until now, her head had imagined a vague form of success. Something she would gain from this event.

Staring into the Bandicoot’s door, she only saw failure.

Coco was inside the house, that much Nina knew. If she wasn’t, then there would have been little need for Crunch to deny her entry in the way that he did. He would simply have stated that she wasn’t there, or some other such excuse.

The door had been closed for privacy. Crunch was talking to Coco. The result of said conversation would decide how the rest of this meeting went. If there was even going to be a meeting at all.

When the door opened again, it was still only Crunch in the doorway.

He did not look any more or less pleased to see her.

“She doesn’t want to see you.”

Nina… stopped.

She had felt loss, and failure. She’d felt them far more times than she cared to count. Or admit to. More often than not because of Coco and the other Bandicoots.

This felt different.

“But,” Crunch continued, his tone no less grim, “unlike you, I don’t get a kick out of being cruel. Maybe I’m going nuts. Maybe you’re just that good at lying. Maybe you are serious. I put in a good word; she’s letting you in. To talk.”

 _What an asshole._ He should have just said that from the start. Nina could have easily pointed that out to him or made some snarky remark that she might regret later. But she recognised she was lucky, for as rarely as she ever got ‘lucky’.

This was a lower percentage outcome that she couldn’t afford to squander.

There was probably a word, or a set of words she was meant to say in response to his reveal. Something like ‘thank’ or ‘you’, but niceties like that didn’t seem so important now that she had what she wanted. What she _needed._

So, she simply tried to make her way through the door. For a second, it even seemed like Crunch was moving out of her way.

Then his almighty metal palm spread wide enough to grab hold of her forehead. He bent down to her level and made sure that both their eyes were evenly met.

She could tell, because that’s exactly what she would do if she was trying to intimidate someone so-much smaller than her.

“Let’s get one thing clear, _Cortex_. You do anything – _anything_ , that doesn’t sit right with me,” he growled, the organic knuckles of his free hand popping in too many places, “and you’ll see first-hand why your uncle was so sure he’d kill Crash when he made me.”

And, on some deep level that Nina tried to ignore, his tactic had worked.

But he didn’t need to know that. “Cross my heart,” she said, a smirk already wriggling its way onto her lips. In that moment however, she felt it would be as good a time as any to say something she had ignored. She tried her best to force the grin back down. “T-Thanks,” she struggled. “For doing me a solid.”

The tension softened, if only by smidge. As did Crunch’s hold on her head.

“Don’t make me regret it.”

With that, he left the hut entirely. His steps were heavy, _truly_ heavy, unlike Nina’s. They took him up the path and out onto the beach. Nina doubted he would go far. She doubted that he’d let the hut out of his sights. Or his ears.

That was enough for now.

Crossing the threshold, an action that itself felt like some unholy sin against her uncle and everything they had ever hoped to achieve, she was greeted by a living room. Because that’s what it was; an actual living room, adorned with soft furniture and potted plants. An uneven fireplace crafted from smoothed stone sat to one side, framed photographs neatly arranged on top. In front of it all was a vaguely ornate carpet with a precise pattern and tassels. There were curtains. Embellishments. Decorations haphazardly hung on the wall.

It was… homely. Or cramped, as Nina would call it. The front door clicked shut behind her, cementing her most recent and dubious life choices.

And stood in front of a closed door opposite the fireplace was Coco Bandicoot. Contrary to what Nina had expected, Coco didn’t look outright angry to see her, or annoyed.

Coco looked… tired.

“… Why are you here, Nina?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? She had _needed_ to talk to Coco. To see her. But what came after that?

What was she even supposed to say in a situation like this? Apologise for the blackmail? The kiss? Tell Coco that Nina wanted to do it again? That Nina hated her and wanted to kiss her and _feel_ her and couldn’t separate those ideas into something that actually made sense?

… All of that?

It was then that Nina realised she hadn’t actually answered Coco’s question. She wasn’t sure what was going to leave her mouth, but then again, the last twenty-four hours had offered a lot of new experiences. This… was likely to be another.

“That’s a good question.”

Why _was_ Nina there? How did you say what she wanted to say? Without sounding like a complete and utter loser.

“That’s why I asked. Why _are_ you here?” Coco repeated, her voice firmer.

Nina decided that she would start slowly. “We kissed yesterday.”

Coco didn’t have a reply for that. After yesterday, Nina didn’t have it in her to blame her.

“It was...” Nina didn’t like ‘slowly’. It got few results. It meant little progress was being made. “It, uh… y-yeah.”

Slowly was pathetic. Slowly was indecisive.

Slowly wasn’t a tactic. It was just another way of saying you were unsure of how to proceed. Starting off slowly in the hopes that you would be able to finish once just enough went your way. It wasted time, it made you feel better when you might as well have gone all in from the get-go and seen the end results sooner. Whatever the results turned out to be.

Nina Cortex didn’t do slowly. Nina Cortex didn’t get lucky, despite recent events. She got results.

Nina Cortex stretched out her remaining hand, gently grasped Coco by the waist and pulled her forwards. She kept her strength in check, sure to be careful. Sure that she wouldn’t crush Coco’s ribs in the process. Sure enough that she could do this much before the slowness trickled back into the forefront of her mind.

Maybe it wasn’t kind, or nice. Maybe she would regret it. But it was the only way she could see herself getting through this.

It was over in an instant. Coco was pulled towards her. Nina took a deep breath and she kissed Coco lightly on the cheek. That was… nice, right? That wasn’t forceful, or harsh. It was a middle ground…

Or so Nina hoped.

Coco was released from Nina’s grasp before she’d even had the chance to ask why it had happened in the first place. In the moments after, that silence didn’t change. Instead, it stretched. The tired fog that had clouded Coco’s face morphed into something less dazed and more dumbfounded. Like a child being told that a fairy-tale was actually real.

As pathetic as that sounded to Nina. Nina didn’t expect fairy-tails.

An orange hand came up to Coco’s cheek, rubbing the spot where Nina had been. It shifted awkwardly towards the back of Coco’s head, trying to hide itself.

“You… just kissed me,” Coco managed.

Nina decided it was time she said something. Anything. “Y-Yeah. I did.”

“That implies you explain _why_ you just kissed me.”

“ _Because!_ ” Just ‘because’? “Because. Because… _yesterday_ was the, uh…”

Pathetic was certainly how Nina felt.

Kissing was not something she cared about. The fad in high school of seeing who was doing what and with who had never appealed. It seemed wholly unimportant compared to her studies. Compared to actual progress and work. Why should she care if her peers were lonely, socially inept imbeciles, so long as they were competent enough to help build a death ray or mutated abomination for a class project?

Nina certainly didn’t give two shits if they thought that about her.

Which made it all the worse when, now, for some horrible, pointless reason… Nina suddenly cared if Coco Bandicoot thought she was pathetic. Her arch-nemesis couldn’t consider Nina pathetic. It negated everything she had done. It negated her accomplishments. It negated having a nemesis in the first place.

Nina _was_ being pathetic. A quick solution to that was to keep going. “Yesterday was the first time someone kissed me.”

When Coco replied, Nina realised she preferred the silence. “O-Okay. So–“

“Just stop. Stop talking. I need to finish.” Otherwise she might not get a chance to finish. “I want– _needed_ to tell you this. Because.” Because…? “Because. I… I kind of liked it.”

There. No longer pathetic.

Not completely, at least.

“… Oh.”

No, scratch that. They were both pathetic.

“Yeah…” Nina replied. “Look, I’m _really_ trying not to be rude. Or mean. Seriously, it’s almost painful at this point. But can you say something? _Anything._ This is hard for me.”

“You think this isn’t hard for me?” Coco answered back. “This isn’t a thing I thought would happen to me. With you!”

“Well, it did,” Nina stated. “What are you going to do about it?”

“What am _I_ going to do about it?”

“Yeah. It happened. I came here. I don’t do _feelings_ and I’ve told you all my shit.” Even if she hadn’t wanted to. “What’s… you know, going on inside your head?”

That was the other question. It was all very well and good Nina getting the information and _feelings_ out of her head, but she doubted the frustration would ever truly leave unless she had enough intel from the enemy as well.

Coco sighed. She let herself fall down to the carpet, crossing her legs and resting her head in her waiting palms. A strangled noise came out her mouth again, muffled, but no less telling than the one she had made yesterday.

“I don’t know,” Coco whined. “I don’t _know_. It was stupid and weird and insane and _I can’t stopping thinking about it!_ Why didn’t you stop me?”

“Uh, I just said I liked it. Why would I stop you?” That gave Nina a thought. An important one. “Did you–“

“Of course I liked it!”

That took something out of Nina. Something she didn’t know she’d been holding on to. But it only came out as an, “Oh.”

“Yes. _Oh._ ”

“You wanna expand on that? I had to get mushy with you.”

Something not unlike a laugh escaped Coco, then. “Not really. This is just… so weird. It’s me. And you...”

“I’m evil. You’re… whatever it is you are.”

_“Good?”_

“Eh, I’d say ‘good’ is up for debate. You’re _okay_.”

“You’re coming here to share your feelings and you’re really telling the girl who kissed you that she’s _just_ okay.”

“… Good point.”

Nina decided it was a good time to join Coco on the floor. Not next to her, or right across from her. Neither option really sat comfortably in Nina’s head and her grasp on the finer details on discussing these sorts of things was evidently quite lacking.

Something told her this could go… well, if she treaded lightly.

Head coming out of the comfort of her palms, Coco rested her elbows on her knees and looked over to Nina, something softer in her eyes than Nina had ever really noticed before. “I thought going all in on the kiss would make me seem like the stronger party, or something. Like I wasn’t just giving in to what you wanted. I was taking control.”

Nina was retroactively pleased that she did.

“But then I realised I was _still_ kissing you and… yeah. That was weird. Because its _you_. And, and it still felt _good_.”

“We’ve established that we both liked it.”

“Apparently.” Coco let out another groan. “I shouldn’t, though. You tricked me into it. You guilt tripped me into kissing you.” She paused. “Is that why you asked? To get a first kiss out of me?”

“What? No! No, it… I thought it would be embarrassing for you.” This felt… raw. Too private, too personal. “I got Aku and Crash to kiss years ago as a joke. I thought it would be funny to get a shot of you kissing someone like me. It didn’t go the way I pictured it.”

“… What do you mean, someone like you?”

Nina shrugged. “I’m kinda hideous to look at. It thought it would of suck if there was a photo going around of you kissing me.”

Her face softened it something… sad. “You really think that?”

“Would you _not_ find a photo like that embarrassing?” Because, if so, the entire ordeal was an utter travesty from start to finish.

“No, I mean… You only thought I’d be embarrassed because the photo would have me kissing you? Because you’re unattractive.”

“Duh. Why else would I want you to kiss me?” Wait, rewind. Rewind! “T-That _was_ the idea, anyway. Like I said… it didn’t exactly go down how I’d imagined.”

Coco swivelled on her behind to face Nina directly. “And you promise me that?”

“Promise what?”

“That it wasn’t just to get a free kiss. That you weren’t just using me to get over whatever insecurities you have.”

Nina wanted to ride the rise that got out of her. At the same time, she didn’t. The words hurt, but at the same time, she knew she had caused something… bad. For once, she didn’t want this person to feel _bad._ Especially if it was going to be down to her.

“Yeah.”

“ _Promise_ me.”

Nina hoped nothing was squirming onto her face. No smug smiles. No dirty implications she didn’t want to make. This felt important. “I promise.”

If there was something on her face, Coco didn’t show offence to it. Instead, she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them there. For a precious few seconds, she just looked at Nina. And Nina looked at her.

“What happens now?” Coco asked.

“W-What do you mean?”

“What do we _do._ Do we just ignore this?” Her face grew uneven. What little contentedness had been on her features was drifting away. “Do we forget it happened and go back to trying to kill each other?” Coco paused. “D-Do we do something about this? Do we kiss again? Do we do other stuff?” Nina… still wondered on the other stuff. Enough to think so hard that she missed several more things from the ever-expanding list. “– try _dating._ Are we friends? Are we still–“

Dating.

That caught in Nina’s head too. What did that even mean; _dating._ Nina didn’t even know if she _did_ dating. Nina barely new if she did whatever it was that she was currently doing with Coco.

But… something simpler could be achieved, right? A smaller sort of experiment.

“We could kiss again,” Nina suggested.

In the milliseconds after, Coco’s rant came to a very abrupt standstill.

Nina added, “Without the blackmail, I mean.” Just to clarify.

“You mean, just… kiss? Now?”

Nina shrugged. “I’m up for it.”

Apparently, Nina was _up_ for stuff now. Not thinking about her next words, not planning ahead. All these things were just coming out of her mouth and… part of her wanted to put a stop to that. Just put a sock in it and walk away.

She _could_ still walk away from this, couldn’t she?

Did she even want to?

As ‘up’ for it as Nina seemed to be, she could see Coco thinking. But she was less frantic, less… frightened? It was calmer than that. Less like calculating, more wondering.

“Okay,” Coco eventually mumbled.

“Okay?”

“Yes. Okay,” Coco reaffirmed, just a few octaves louder. “Okay.”

“I mean…” Nina needed to ask. It felt wrong, otherwise. “If you don’t want to–“

“No! I do! It’s just… still a little weird.”

Nina couldn’t deny that. She’d simply accepted that as fact, now. It just felt easier wading through the awkward when she’d already blurted out everything that she had. It was all out in the open. Not much else to do with it all, other than get on with what came next.

Which was conduct some experiments. Even if that experiment involved kissing Coco Bandicoot.

… Or maybe precisely because it involved kissing Coco Bandicoot.

“You’re going to kiss me,” Coco eventually said, a newfound resolution in her eye.

Nina scoffed. “Is that you telling me what to do?”

Coco’s eyes kept even. “I’m telling you what to do because you did worse to me yesterday.” Point… very much taken. “You’re going to kiss me. And I’m going to watch you squirm trying not to get embarrassed about it.”

“I-I’m not going to get embarrassed about it. I can kiss you.”

“Aww. The little evil genius is too scared to kiss the pretty girl.”

“I’m _not_ scared.”

Something distinctly smug crawled on Coco’s face. “You didn’t say I wasn’t pretty.”

Ugh. _Ugh!_

No. They were _not_ flirting. Nina Cortex did not flirt. Nina Cortex did not do… lots of things. But she was witty. She could do snarky. She could turn this around.

“That just sounds like you want me to say you’re pretty.”

“It would certainly go a little towards making up for yesterday.”

Shit. Nina couldn’t call her pretty. Nina could _not_ call Coco Bandicoot pretty.

The smile on Coco’s face softened. Still smug, Nina could see that. But something else was peeking through. “You still haven’t said I’m not pretty.”

Stop saying ‘pretty’. It was such a prissy word. It was a pink word held together by glitter and rainbows. Nina wouldn’t call Coco Bandicoot pretty. Nina wouldn’t say anything was pretty. She had standards.

But Nina still wanted to say something. To take away from the heat she felt in her pale cheeks, at any rate. “Close your eyes, Bandicoot.”

The smugness remained, but despite her claim to watch Nina suffer, Coco did as she was told and closed her eyes. Her limbs were jittery, Nina could see. Unable to keep still, but not out of fear. That had passed.

It had not passed for Nina.

Looking at Coco, eyes closed and hands uneasy in her lap, Nina was not sure how to feel. This was someone she had spent years trying to squish with a variety of complicated and ingenious machines. She was someone who had quite literally kicked her ass several times over.

It was someone Nina couldn’t stop staring at, despite it all.

Part of Nina recognised this could be used. This could be a chance to take revenge for some wrong in the past. Or even a chance to humiliate the poor bandicoot, leaving her broken and wanting in her own home.

…

… Nina wouldn’t. She wasn’t she even could do that to Coco anymore. Even if she did want to.

She leaned forward, ever aware of how close she was willingly putting herself towards Coco Bandicoot’s face. Her lips.

More willing than she ever thought she would be.

Their lips meet for the second time in as many days, and Nina couldn’t stop herself taking a deep breath before she made the final push forward.

Actively kissing someone felt… different. It wasn’t some unknown factor intruding on her personal space when she hadn’t expected it, or a sudden sensation she hadn’t experienced before. It was Nina, leaning into someone she wanted to be close to. It was Nina setting her lips gently against Coco’s, going with the motions she hoped to be correct. The day before, that hadn’t been _kissing._ Nina had been _kissed,_ but she hadn’t returned the favour.

In truth, Coco hadn’t really been kissing her either, had she? It had been a product of something that had ended the moment Nina had decided to come to Coco’s house.

Now, Nina’s movements were the ones that mattered. She had planned something logical; a pattern to follow in order to at least tread on a few of the goals one expected whilst kissing. She had planned a route, when to begin one action and end another.

All of her planning might as well have been thrown out of the window.

Feeling Coco’s lips, Nina once again experienced the overwhelming softness there was to her. A pelt that Nina could never replicate, and the intrinsic warmth that came with it. It began chaste. As chaste as Nina had expected their initial kiss to be. Something slow and, sadly, timid on her part. No previous experience left her with little to offer.

But Coco reciprocated. Coco moved with her, opening her own lips slightly, moving back in the ways Nina probably should have yesterday.

Maybe the opening had been something simpler, but Nina took it as an invitation. Her tongue dipped forward before she could consider an alternative and she found herself right back in the mindset she had been in at the beach.

Her tongue was in contact with someone else’s. Even more so now; she was the one initiating said contact.

She could feel Coco. The edges of her tongue, the light scraping of her teeth. A taste that both tasted like she remembered and like absolutely nothing at all. Her mind was focused solely on these tiny touches and sparks.

Now, within the walls of the Bandicoot house, there was another sensation; the _smells._ Coco was against her, closer now than they had been when they started. There was the smell of Coco, of her being, but coated in something cosmetic. Like leaves, or citrus. Something unnaturally natural. Nina was smelling Coco and as wrong as that sounded, as stupid as it was… she didn’t want it to end.

Which sucked, because that’s when Coco pulled away.

Nina caught her breath, almost… worried. Guilty? “Did I do something wro–“

Coco took a deep breath of her own and pulled Nina back in.

It all came back, but _more_. More scents, more sensations. More touches against her tongue and within her mouth. There was no rush, or hierarchy of dominance. It was a deliriously pleasant stimulation shared between two people, neither of whom seemed willing to let it end.

The smells, they were new. But out of everything, it was the noises that struck Nina the most.

Whatever Coco had been before yesterday, she had been familiar. A familiar sight, a familiar sound. Someone Nina could imagine and plan for. She could imagine how the bandicoot would talk in response to a jibe, or how she would respond to most given situations based on previous experience.

Coco was making noises that Nina hadn’t heard from anyone. Nothing heavy. No exaggerated moans of pleasure, or anything sordid like that. Little sounds. Little whines. Light coos between breaths and the sound of a tongue that still somehow sounded like it was Coco talking.

Nina was making noises. Different noises. Huskier noises, she hoped. But still those same little whimpers and sighs.

They weren’t meant to happen. Even as she tried to keep them inside, she just… stopped caring. Or more accurately, she couldn’t care for long enough before it all fell into a numb haze of pleasurable sensations and small movements.

There was suddenly a foreign hand at Nina’s waist.

Nina’s own hand was still on the floor, holding her body up. Her empty wrist stalled in the air, unsure of where to go. She knew _where_ she wanted it to go. She knew she wanted it somewhere soft.

Like everything else today, it felt like a weakness. She dared not move anything that wasn’t attached to her face, as if it might end whatever this thing was.

Was this still _just_ kissing? Was this ‘something else’ yet?

But asking had gotten her far today, hadn’t it?

Pulling back, Nina managed to use her words. Somewhat. “Can I, uh…” She raised her wrist. “O-On your arm? I, it’s–“

There wasn’t a chance to finish. Coco pulled her back, the hand on Nina’s waist doing more than its fair share to make that an easy action. Their lips once more connected, Nina had almost forgotten why she had bothered stopping at all.

Coco guided Nina’s wrist up onto her own forearm. Leaving it to sit on the soft fur, Coco’s other hand slid up to Nina’s shoulder. As if nothing had happened at all, Coco fell back into her routine. Moving her lips, easing her tongue to the places that Nina was beginning to like.

All the while, Nina stroked her wrist up and down Coco’s arm, taking in the softness of it all. The comfort of feeling fur drift across her skin. Fur that felt like it wouldn’t break if she touched it. A warmth that wouldn’t burst if she went too far.

Nina knew it had been longer this time. Despite the haze, she knew it had been more than just those scant few seconds on the beach. She didn’t care how much longer. Nina was just glad that it had _been_ at all.

But then her jaw started to hurt. Their motions slowed. Eventually, naturally, they came away from each other.

The universe was back. It left Nina breathless, staring at a Coco Bandicoot that existed wholly separate from the one she had seen upon entering the house. Even more so from the Coco she fought with on the beach.

Coco spoke first. “O-Okay. Okay, that, that was… good. That was better.”

It was a miracle that Nina caught her breath enough to reply. “Yeah.” Even then, she had to swallow hard before she could say anything else. “Good. Really, really… good.”

“We agree it was good, then?” Coco laughed.

“I guess we do.”

This brought them back to that initial problem: what happened now?

“I gotta be honest,” Nina managed. “It’s gonna be weird trying to kill you after this.”

“You could _not_ try to kill me, you know.”

That was a distinct possibility. “What would I do instead, then?”

As much as Nina could suggest the many things that had been brought up before, she wanted to hear it from Coco. As if that made it more important, somehow.

“We could try being… friends?”

“Do friends kiss with tongues?” Nina asked, that smugness she relished easing back into place.

“No, most don’t. I just… it feels weird to say we could… y’know…”

“Get together?”

“Yeah. Get together.”

Nina couldn’t deny that the collection of words themselves, let alone the prospect of dating Coco Bandicoot felt entirely alien to her. Dating was alien to her. Friendship was alien. _Everything_ was still as alien as it has felt the night before.

All the things that could stem from this moment with Coco were new and… different.

“We could date,” Nina eventually said.

Coco seemed cautious. “You think _we_ could date?”

“I mean, this is already pretty messed up. Going out would kinda make more sense than being enemies who kiss each other.”

“We’ve only kissed twice.”

“We could kiss more than twice?”

It wasn’t meant to come out as a question, but Nina supposed she probably wanted it to be.

Coco’s eyes met Nina coyishly, her fingers tracing invisible patterns on the worn denim of her overalls. “We _could_ , yes.” Then she smiled. “If… you want to do that?”

Nina would, yes. “Yeah. I’d, uh, like that. A lot.”

Coco leaned in, pressing her lips against Nina’s in a small, quick show of affection. Nina reciprocated in kind the moment Coco pulled far enough away.

It was a strange moment, after being so connected just a minute before. But it felt… pleasant. Natural, even.

“So…” Nina began, once Coco was too far away for more kisses. “What’s now? Like, literally now?”

Coco thought for a moment. “… Are you free today?”

Things were moving again. “I-I guess?”

“If you want, we could spend some time together. Not as enemies trying to kill each other. As people who kiss.” Which sounded like just the right term for what they were.

“Yeah.” Fast was good, though. Fast meant progress. “Okay. I can do that.”

“What should we do?”

In that moment, only one thing was at the forefront of Nina’s mind. “I… wouldn’t mind just _one_ more kiss.”


End file.
